


Dragons Are Here

by Zarvasace



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Original Work
Genre: Gen, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo 2020
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27172265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zarvasace/pseuds/Zarvasace
Summary: Shortly after the fall of the dragon-hating Empire, the former Resistance, now the Peacekeepers, form the Ironband Knights to help young humans, elves, and dragons left adrift to find a home. Amid the controlled tension and recent treaties, a new alliance of powerful, dark dragons rises, intent on using the situation to their advantage.Cora is a mountain elf who likes her axe and doesn't like people. Vee is a dragon who honestly has never spent much time as one. They expected adventure when they enlisted in the Ironband Knights, but they didn’t expect this much.NaNoWriMo 2020 story posted as it’s written! (Hooray for accountability!)





	1. Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go! I'm going to post a few chapters all at once because it's been a few days. Yayyyy. This is bad but it's okay, it's a first draft, and it's NaNoWriMo, nobody cares. Nobody's even going to see this anyway

Vee woke to a fallen Empire.

Well. That wasn’t quite true. He woke to the sound of the ocean, like every other morning. Today felt a little odd, but that had nothing to do with politics and rebellions. 

Vee stood, shivering. He remembered a long flight last night, far enough out in the ocean that nobody would see him and decide he made a good target. Then a long swim back to inhabited waters. He’d been tired enough when he got back to his cove that he hadn’t bothered to turn back into a sea elf and change into dry clothes. Thus, the slightly odd morning when he woke up as a dragon. 

Not for long, though. Vee shrank down and ran his fingers through his short hair. From the little sky he could see through the portal to his cove, the weather looked nice. Perhaps today was a good day to go to town. 

Vee pulled out a dry tunic and brushed some salt from the fabric. He made a face at a frayed spot near the hem and reached into a spot in his trunk to count the coins he had. Perhaps enough for a new one. He was low on a few other supplies, too... He glanced a little guiltily at the worn trunk in the back of his cave that held a small bit of gold and glass. He’d dipped too much into that already. 

“Sorry, Mother,” he said into the quiet darkness of his cave. He exchanged his damp tunic for the dry one and set the damp one out on the rocks. He put the bag of coins into his satchel. He hefted his pink glass good luck charm for a moment before tossing it, catching it, and putting it next to the coins. 

Vee put his hand on the side of the cave and waded a few steps into the low tide. He stepped up into the little tunnel and climbed out several yards onto the beach.

The sky glowed white overhead, the sun behind the clouds on the overcast day. Vee shaded his eyes against the ocean’s spray and walked up the rocky beach barefoot until he reached the cliffs. There, he slipped on shoes and took the scrubby dirt road toward the nearby town. 

“Morning, Vee,” said a young man, human, carrying a folded, repaired fishing net. His green trousers were worn but repaired with cheerful colors. 

“Morning, Finch. How’s your brother?” 

“Doing better, thank you. His fever broke two days ago, and nobody else seems to have gotten sick.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Good fishing!”

“You too, Vee!” Finch waved and continued on down the road toward the harbor. Vee watched him for a moment before turning around to go into town.

The town of Rinburt looked like it was smiling. Though the colors often seemed drab and washed-out, its people took pride in their town, and the buildings were usually in good repair. This far west, the fishing was good. Unfortunately, the Empire’s arm reached out this far, too. Heavy taxes kept Rinburt from really booming, and Empire soldiers came through every so often to check up on them. 

Vee’s least favorite law was one of the Empire’s most famous—The Dragon Mandate, established two centuries ago when the Empire first began. By order of the King, all dragons, regardless of location or kind or relationships or anything else, were to be brought to the capitol, dead or alive. There was a hefty reward for dragon heads.

One hundred years ago—about—the three dragons of the Rebellion had been killed or disappeared. Vee remembered seeing posters celebrating the public torture and execution of Cyran, a fellow lightning dragon. Vee had been young then, and his mother turned him away from the posters before he saw more. Barely a year later, the poison dragon Nuovis followed Cyran to death. There had never been a poster for Jubilee, an ice dragon, but she’d gone missing all the same. 

In the years that followed, dozens of dragons were brought down. Most had already been in hiding, but there were precious few places to hide. Vee remembered playing with other young dragons, lightning and sea and gold, but that had stopped. His mother built them a home in the secluded cave, and even when she’d never come home, Vee rarely left it except wearing his sea elf form. 

Not that Rinburt got much news, but they hadn’t heard of a dragon sighting in forty years. 

Well, not that they knew, of course. Vee had a job in Rinburt, and he spent money here and ate here and got to know the people. He thought he was starting to look too young for his years. He’d be sad when he had to leave. 

In the market, Vee found the clothing stall right away. “Hilda!”

“Vee! My boy!” A woman rounded the full cart to give him a big hug—quite a feat for someone Vee’s size. She’d always been kind to him, especially after he’d let it slip that he lived alone. 

“Hi.” He hugged her back. “You’re well?”

“Very well, yes, indeed, Vee. I feel something lighter in the air.” She pulled away to look at him. Her eyes caught on the stains and worn parts of his tunic, and she clicked her tongue.

“I know, I know,” Vee said, blushing. “Don’t swim in my tunic.”

“But of course you do it anyway. I have some sea-elf-made items, this week.”

He blushed harder. “I won’t be able to afford it.”

“I can—”

“No. Thank you, but no.” He pulled out his coins. “Whatever this can buy?”

Hilda shook her head and looked through her piles. “You know, you could buy a nice, seaworthy outfit if you saved a few.”

“You know me. There’s always things to buy.” He grinned and took the new blue tunic from her. 

“Always /sweet buns/ to buy,” Hilda laughed. “Ah, which reminds me.” She turned around. 

“Hilda...” 

She put a paper-wrapped loaf in his arms. “I won’t take no for an answer.” 

“I can get my own food.”

“Oh, let me spoil you, Vee.” She smiled at him. 

“Thank you. I should be off, though, Brackburn’s expecting me.” 

“Of course.” She gave him another big hug and waved him off. 

Vee put his new tunic and bread into his bag alongside his lucky glass and headed to the other side of town, snacking on a bit of bread.

“Brackburn?” he called, getting to the smithy. 

“Ah, Vee, my lad,” a heavy man wearing a thick leather apron said, coming from behind a scaffold. “Just in time. That order from Linten needs to be done, if you think you can handle it.”

“Oh, I can handle it,” Vee grinned back. He put his bag down and grabbed his own apron. He lugged a hunk of metal over to the forge and began working it. 

Brackburn and Vee worked companionably in silence and in laughter for the next few hours. Rinburt wasn’t huge, but someone always needed a new lock, or horseshoes, or a pan. There were always things to be done. 

Around midday, as the forge heated from both the inside and the outside, Brackburn called Vee off his current project and dumped a few coins in his hand. “Go get lunch for us from the tavern. I don’t feel like eating my sandwich today.”

Vee laughed. “All right. Give me a few minutes.” He put the coins in his pocket and took off his apron. 

“Don’t forget my ale!” Brackburn called as Vee headed down the road. Vee smiled and shook his head. 

The tavern seemed unusually crowded, even for lunchtime. Vee muttered a few apologies as he squeezed between people to get to the bar. People were holding a thousand different conversations, but as Vee ordered some fried fish and ale for Brackburn, he heard one thing repeated over and over again. 

“The King is dead! His council, too! The Rebellion did it, their dragons are back!” 

“What?” Vee turned to the young man with an Imperial messenger’s patch, painted carefully over in silver, brass, and black rather than red. 

“It’s true!” He pulled a rolled-up bit of parchment from his bag and showed it to Vee. “I saw the dragons myself! Silver, bronze, black; ice, lightning, poison.”

Vee took the parchment and looked at it. He recognized the writing as that copied by magic thousands of times. He read it and his breathing picked up. “Can I take this?”

“What, thinking of signing up?” The messenger grinned and raised his glass. “I would, but this job just became a whole lot better.”

Vee nodded absently and took the bag of lunch. He plunked Brackburn’s coins down on the counter and left. 

“Khadia might take over the Empire,” someone to his left said. 

“Wernis wouldn’t like that. I heard they’re going to split it up.” 

“But Princess Claire has been in Khadia this whole time—”

Vee burst from the tavern and ran back to the smithy. His old boots pounded a quick rhythm on the cobbled roads. 

“Brackburn! Brackburn!” 

The man in question came out of the back room with one raised eyebrow, thick and black. “Vee? What is it?”

Vee ground to a halt in front of him and took a second to catch his breath. “The King is dead and the Empire has fallen and I have to leave.”

“Woah, woah, Vee, slow down.” Brackburn put his two large hands on Vee’s shoulders. “What did you say about the Empire? Why do you have to leave?”

Vee handed him the parchment. Brackburn unrolled it, glanced at Vee, then started to read it aloud. 

_ “To the people of Rinthia: _

_ “The former King of the Empire and the majority of his Council have been killed. Queen Clairiat Mercy laBelle, wife of the second son of the Kingdom of Khadia, has returned to her ancestral home in Rinthia to rule.  _

_ “She desires the daily life of her citizens to remain unchanged for the time being. The Empire, named Rinthia once again, will establish treaties and return stolen land as possible to the surrounding nations. The Dragon Mandate, including promised bounties for heads and scales, is hereby rescinded by order of the Queen.  _

_ “We, the former Rebellion, are tasked with keeping the peace within the borders of the Rinthian Empire as they stand. To that end, we announce the formation of the Ironband Knights. We invite any and all able and willing to join us in the town of Shofall no later than nightfall on the sixth day of the eighth month.” _

The parchment then went on to give a few more details about everything, things that Vee paid little attention to. He waited for Brackburn’s reaction, hopping back and forth. 

When Brackburn finally put the parchment down, he looked at Vee. 

“And you want to join these… Ironband Knights. Vee, I have a few concerns, but you’re dying to say something, I can tell. Out with it.” He folded his arms. 

“Brackburn, I’m going to join them, whether you want me to or not. The only thing that’s kept me from joining the Rebellion so far is the fact that everyone thought they were extinct. You know that I need something to do. I’ve loved being your employee, but I know I’m not the only one who can do this with you. I can do this and I’m going to.”

Brackburn took a second, then nodded. “You’ll need better shoes.” 

“Shoes?” Vee looked down. 

“If you’re going to get there by…” He checked the parchment. “Nightfall on the sixth day of the eighth month, you’ll need to run.”

“I…” Vee shifted his feet. “I was planning on flying, actually. That will be fast enough.”

Brackburn’s caterpillar eyebrows came together. He considered, and a moment later, his mouth opened and his face made such a perfect expression of surprise, Vee couldn’t help but laugh aloud a little. 

“Flying? It crossed my mind a few times, watching you…” Brackburn watched him now, and Vee blushed. “You’re more than a sea elf, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Vee said quietly, looking down. He traced a cobble with the worn toe of his shoe.

Brackburn matched his tone. “You’re a dragon. A sea dragon?”

“Lightning dragon. We’re easy to confuse.” He chanced a glance up, and Brackburn looked satisfied. “You’re not going to… kill me or anything, right?”

“Vee… my boy. Of course not. I’m just glad I got that figured out. It’s been scratching at my mind a lot lately.” Brackburn laughed, breaking the tense atmosphere. Vee let out a breath and smiled. “Thank you for easing my mind. You will be a very good knight. A credit to our town and the country.”

“Thank you, Brackburn.”

“Do you need anything for the journey?”

“Oh, no. I have all I need. Um, but, can I maybe drop off a trunk? I don’t want to just leave it in my cave for who knows how long…”

“I’d be happy to store something for you. You’re a good boy, a good employee, and I’m sure you’re a good dragon, too.”

Vee looked around. “Not so loud! People still…” He sighed. “I can finish that project today, and leave tonight.”

“You’d better get going, then, Vee. Do you have food? Oh! You do! Come back in, let’s share a meal one last time.” He ushered Vee inside. 

“Brackburn?”

“Yes, lad?”

“My name isn’t Vee.”

Brackburn paused, clearing off a work table to use for lunch. “It isn’t?”

“My name is Inevitability of the Wave’s Pull. My mother started calling me Vee, understandably.”

Brackburn smiled, and Vee felt warm. “It’s a good, strong name. Inevitability. A long name, I don’t blame you for shortening it. Get the food out?”

For the rest of the day, Vee answered Brackburn’s increasingly eager comments about him, his dragon-ness, and his plans. It felt good to have someone to talk to about it, even if he was about to leave. Vee wasn’t going to say anything, but having Brackburn there felt almost like having a father. 


	2. Leaving Rinburt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vee prepares to leave Rinburt. A shorter chapter.

A very few hours later, Vee carried his trunk through the streets of Rinburt. It began to chafe the top of his legs, making him itchy as the trunk rubbed as he walked. He ignored that in favor of listening to the gulls and consciously enjoying the smell and sound of the sea not too far away. The Ironband Mountains were landlocked. 

Brackburn helped him take the trunk inside his shed, where it would presumably stay for several years. Only Vee had the combination to the lock, and the trunk was tight enough that nobody would be able to get at the contents, even if Brackburn were to abandon it in the ocean. 

“If you don’t mind me asking, Vee,” Brackburn grunted, heaving the heavy door of his shed shut, “What’s inside it?”

“Memories, mostly. A painting of my mother. Some sea glass that we found together. We’re, um, collectors.” Vee laughed a little and picked up his satchel with clothes and the rest of his coins. 

“Aye, I’ve heard of that. Now, then. Is that all?”

“I think so. I’ll miss you... and the smithy..”

Brackburn laughed. “You’re sending me letters and coming to visit, though, so you don’t have to miss us for too long.”

“That I will. If you’re looking for a new employee, I think the younger Strith girl would make a good one.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Brackburn put his hand on Vee’s shoulder and squeezed it, and Vee knew that was as good as a hug from the man. “Good luck. Do us proud.”

Vee nodded. “I promise.” 

“Then off with you! Don’t burn daylight while you’ve got it!” He slapped Vee’s back and Vee stepped away. He waved and started walking. 

The sun, past its zenith but not in danger of falling quite yet, lit Brackburn and the sea like a painting. Vee looked back before he rounded the first scrubby hill. Rinburt, a smiling town. The cliffs and the waves, dotted with white foam and dark fishing boats. He’d miss it all. For better or for worse, his home was now somewhere in the Ironband Mountains. 

Vee walked until he couldn’t see the town, and waited until travelers were sparse. Rinburt was at the edge of the Empire, or well, Rinthia, anyway. The news of the King’s death was at least two weeks old, which explained the short time frame for Vee to get to the mountains. That meant that most of the country had heard that the Dragon Mandate was defunct, but only two weeks ago. Two or three generations of humans and elves had cultivated fear and hatred of dragons, and Vee didn’t think most people would appreciate seeing one fly over their homes and fields. 

He stopped under a large tree and stretched before shifting. He’d always liked the feeling, both ways. From a dragon to an elf, it felt like a consolidation of power, turning a blow from a hammer into a precise strike from a knife, not to mention that it allowed him to interact with more than dumb fish. 

When Vee turned from an elf into a dragon, however, it didn’t feel like he was becoming more clumsy or anything like that. He could lift boulders either way (or forge heavy swords and lug around anvils, as he grew accustomed to doing at Brackburn’s smithy), but his ability to use his considerable strength grew as a dragon. It felt  _ right _ in a way two legs and ten fingers never did. Of course, to Vee, it also felt a little awkward. Every time he did it, he resolved to spend more time as a dragon, but he never did. Being an elf was just so dang  _ useful.  _ Both forms had their advantages, though for Vee’s… now-previous life, sea elf was the way to go. 

But sea elves didn’t have wings. 

Vee’s satchel had gone with the transformation, as it did. He stepped out from under the tree into the sunshine, blinking. His bronze scales shone, polished by the salt and beginning to patina green and blue in less-worn spots. 

It might have been dragon vanity, but Vee rather thought he was very beautiful. 

He ran a few steps, getting used to the way things moved again, and then launched up into the sky. He flew into the sun, west, toward the Ironband mountains. He tried to keep to the roads, avoiding travelers and homes as he saw them. The wind helped him, still smelling like the sea, lifting him up and up into the clouds, until trees were the size of acorns and people hardly even ants. The sound of wind rushed in his ears, blocking out anything else. He entertained himself by watching his shadow move across the fields. It was late summer, so cornfields grew ever higher. 

As the air began to cool, Vee dipped a wing down and circled a small forest at the border of some farms. The sun disappeared behind the mountains just as he touched down among the trees. He tucked his wings in close and listened. The farmers had gone in for the day—even if someone saw him land here, they’d be rather unlikely to come in after him. 

A bit of wildlife seemed to live here in the area. It was almost too easy to find a deer. Vee had a lovely dinner of venison and leaves in the darkness. He settled down to sleep.


	3. Cora

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cora helps with the chores, and has a conversation about dragons.

Cora swung her axe again, cleaving through a log of rather soft wood. She scowled at it and repositioned the split halves to split them again. Her axe wasn’t made for splitting wood. They knew that, she knew that, yet she still had to.

It wasn’t that she… resented the fact that she had to contribute to chores, exactly. It was just that she was eager to do her own thing, and to finally live her own life. Her village at the northern end of the Ironband Mountains had a longstanding tradition of training their girls in weapons, which isolated them a bit from the humans who definitely  _ did not _ do that. Cora had never been upset about training, but… 

Fine. She hated splitting wood. It was so boring out here, and she was never alone!

“I can’t believe you’ve already done twenty of those,” said a voice from behind her.

Cora brought her axe down and left it in the stump, then turned. “Thank you, Lallyn, but it’s not that impressive.”

“It is!” Lallyn, one of the urban elves who looked like a dusky-skinned human save for her pointed ears and black, black eyes, handed Cora a cloth canteen filled with water. “Nobody else has managed that many!”

“Nobody else grew up hefting one of these around all the time,” Cora responded with a gesture at her axe. She took a long drink of water and handed it back.

“Do all mountain elves do that?”

“I don’t think so. Just my village.”

“Why?”

“There’s a lot of threats up in the mountains.”

Lallyn’s eyes grew wide. “Threats like mountain lions? Dire wolves? Snowmen?”

“Yeah, among others. Excuse me, I have some things to do.” Cora nodded at her and grabbed her axe again. As she began pounding away, she could hear Lallyn going back to the water station and talking excitedly with the other water-carriers there. 

The open call for Ironband Knights had been answered fully by a lot of Rinthia’s youth. And not just Rinthia, either. Elves and humans from Wernis, Khadia, and other regions came flocking to the mountains in droves. Even a few young dragons. Cora had been rather surprised by those, as she, like most people, had assumed most of the dragons dead. Apparently, a new generation had been growing up used to hiding their draconic selves. She didn’t know if she was upset by that or not.

The luckiest, or rather, the most skilled, humans and elves would all be anxious to get a chance to ride a dragon. Of course, dragons were known to be picky about their riders, not to mention their partners. Dragons and their riders were some of the most powerful forces on the battlefield. Cora’s village had had a few old history books detailing ancient battles, and while those with dragons on their side didn’t always win, the dragons were huge deciding factors. 

Two other elves from Cora’s village had also come to this side of the Ironbands. The three of them seemed to know the very most about dragons, which wasn’t a lot. Well, the most besides the adults of the Rebellion, and the dragons themselves. 

Cora predicted that this huge crowd of hopeful Knights would be culled significantly come winter. They wanted glory and had images in their head of working hard to earn a reward–but they didn’t understand what it would really be like. Cora hoped that she did. She didn’t care about the Ironband Knights themselves, it sounded like a cheesy name for a youth-filled militia, which it was, but she did want to help. Near Khadia, she’d seen the aftermath of several battles firsthand. She could still smell the blood and the burned flesh. And  _ those _ battles didn’t have dragons.

A few nights ago, one of the dragon riders had called her up to the table. A fellow elf, though a forest elf and not a mountain elf, with darker skin and blonder hair, Ashryn was both the rider and husband of Cyran, the lightning dragon that had been originally associated with the Rebellion. 

“What do you think of dragons?” he asked, offering her a roll. 

“What do you mean?” She was confused about why he’d singled her out of the massive crowd. It was an honor, sure, but a confusing one. 

“Do you like them, do you hope to ride one someday?” He seemed legitimately curious.

“I don’t… know any. It would be an honor to be chosen as a partner, but I don’t think I can exactly train to  _ be _ one. Only a few people will be, and they’d have to be exceptional.” She took a bite of the roll. It was still warm.

“You’re not wrong. Everyone who’s a rider now, we fell into it almost accidentally. Like, fate rather than a test or something.”

She leaned against the rough wooden table, judging the person who’d neglected to sand it down. “I’ve heard the legends. I doubt they’re very accurate.”

“Well, Cyran and I happened to be in the same bar one night. I had a slip of the tongue, he heard me talking about the Rebellion. It was the night that taxes from the Empire tripled on the coast, and we ended up working together to break up the camp of soldiers that would be sent to enforce it. Something just… clicked, and we’ve been together ever since.”

“That’s a lot less exciting than a whirlwind romance inside a lighthouse.”

Ashryn laughed. “ _ That’s _ the one you heard? No, nothing about that is true except for the fact that we once spent a week stuck inside a lighthouse because we were being chased by a company of the King’s snipers. Anyway, you seem smart, and I’ve been watching you. I like you. I wanted to teach you something.”

“I don’t have much skill with magic…”

“No, not that kind of teaching.” He pointed down the curved table. “Down that way, there are three dragons. Can you tell me which they are?”

Cora looked down the table. All the dragons in attendance were currently in their other forms, which were either elf or human. She knew the descriptions as well as anybody. She picked them out quickly. “The crystal elf there, that silver-haired human, and the man with the braid.”

“How did you know that?” Ashryn didn’t sound surprised.

“Well… Everyone knows that Nuovis is a crystal elf when she’s not a dragon. And I didn’t know what Jubilee was, human apparently, but she’s next to the fire elf that I know is Ruith, her husband. And Cyran was the one to welcome me in here.” She smiled a little at the memory of her and her two village friends climbing through, only to be surprised by a rather large bronze dragon who quickly turned into the dark-haired man to calm them.

“All right, those are all very valid. Now, I want you to watch how the dragons move, contrasted with the others around them.”

Cora frowned and leaned forward to better see them. She watched for several minutes. Ruith and Jubilee held a conversation with an older human man. She noticed that Jubilee didn’t talk as much as her husband, and that Ruith seemed to get frustrated easily. Nuovis was gracious to those around her, and her rider, who Cora knew was named Mattias and that he was a member of the Rebellion, but not much else. And Cyran simply laughed a lot with the hopeful Knights, glancing over at Ashryn every so often to give him a wink. Ashryn always blushed.

“Anything, Cora?” Ashyrn asked after a particularly saucy smile thrown his way.

“They’re just… people. I don’t know, there’s nothing different about them.”

“True, and false. They are just people. Remember that. Dragons have personalities shaped by their elements as much as elves like you and I are shaped by our locations, but even dragons of the same element will be different from one another. 

“But there is something different. If you’re attuned to magic, you’ll always be able to pick a dragon out of a crowd. More than that, if you’re attuned to body language, you’ll be able to do the same.”

Cora frowned and kept watching the dragons. Jubilee looked up and smiled at her, and Cora tried to make it look like she had been very focused on her roll. “Body language? Like what?”

“Dragons are usually used to being a dragon. They’ll lead with their head, and shake or nod a lot. They’ll use their hands to gesture less than a human or an elf. Their hair can get in their way, and they forget to use knives rather than their nails.”

“I mean… that seems like common sense…”

“Perhaps. It’s common sense that people don’t understand, though. You need to look for it to find a dragon.”

“Why is this important?”

Ashryn turned to her. “With the end of the Dragon Mandate, we’ll be seeing what dragons really survived the King’s purging. Already, we have a few young ones, and I fear old ones with… bad intentions… might be coming into play here soon.”

“You think that evil dragons will come?”

“I’m… not sure.” He licked the inside of his cheek and drained the last of the wine in his glass. “I don’t want to think that. But we can’t be blindsided. The King was powerful, and now that he’s gone and his forces won’t be used the same way by Queen Clairette, I fear that some non-political threats will pop up.”

“Bad dragons.”

“Yeah. So.” He looked at her. “Don’t grow complacent. Be aware of the people around you, and watch for dragons who may be trying to hurt us. Look back down at them–can you see what I’m talking about? Leading with the head and all?”

Cora looked back and watched. “Yeah.” She had a thought, and looked down at all the young people sitting around. There was one of the dragons, she didn’t know her name. A cloud dragon, she thought. “Hold on. She’s a dragon, and she doesn’t really do that.”

“Do you know why that might be?”

She thought. “She’s not as used to being a dragon.”

Ashryn nodded. “I think that’s exactly the reason. These young ones are so used to hiding. I can still pick them out with magic, but they don’t act the same way. They’re far more used to fitting in among elves and humans.”

“That’s… sad.” Cora was surprised that she felt that way. “It’s like they’re losing a bit of their… dragon-ness?”

“Yeah. I feel like that, too.” Ashryn sighed. He passed her a glass of wine and sent her back to her seat, on the fringes of a group around a round table. She’d spent the rest of the night watching that group, wondering how the heck she was supposed to find evil dragons among crowds.

And now, in the woods splitting logs, Cora wondered if Ashryn had really meant to ask that of her. She’d noticed a few other youths getting called up to talk to him, and though she’d watched, they hadn’t seemed to be getting the same…  _ training _ , or whatever it was Ashryn was doing. She wondered if he had some kind of divination magic, if he knew that she’d need those skills. If so, she felt woefully underprepared. Just tell her who to fight and she’d swing an axe through their skull. Ugh. This subterfuge was going to get to her.

When Mattias finally called for them to stack the wood and go back to the old campus, Cora was drenched in sweat and feeling somehow better and more frustrated at the same time. Everyone here had to do their part. She knew that. She was happy to do her part, that’s why she came. But she didn’t want her part to be something like looking for dragons in a crowd of humans. She wasn’t good at that.

And she didn’t want to fail.

Cora hefted her axe and pulled her whetstone across the blade as they trooped back to the campus. Cutting wood made it dull rather quickly, and she’d be upset about that, except that she’d used cutting wood as a training exercise back home. Of course, it was usually more “hack-the-wood-to-kindling” rather than “split-it-into-useable-logs,” but the blade dulled just as fast.

“All right, everyone, wash up and head into dinner,” Mattias called as the campus came into view. The hopeful Knights started to chatter loudly, rushing off into the dormitories to wash and change for the night. 

Cora went to follow, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She looked back to see Mattias, his face drawn and rather unhappy. “What is it, sir?”

“Do you have combat experience?”

She couldn’t imagine why he’d be unhappy about that. “Not real combat, but some mock battles and such. Why?”

“There’s a… situation. I think we’ll need you to help.”

“A situation? I’m hardly the most qualified to… do anything. What kind of situation? Why can’t you all handle it?”

“A variety of reasons. We might need some support tonight. Will you get ready to go out tonight?”

Cora nodded, feeling more than a little confused. Maybe this was a test. “I’ll be ready by dinner.”

“Thank you. We’ll tell you more after dinner.”

Feeling a little apprehensive, Cora left the yard. She put the leather sheath on her axe and slipped the handle into her belt. The wood of the campus buildings creaked beneath her as she climbed a few stairs to the walkway.

This old campus had once been the great Rinthian University, home of learning, magic, and might. It had been abandoned before the King even rose to power, due to a centralization of this continent’s education. Most magic users now went to the Wernian Academy. The magic permeating Rinthian Univeristy had allowed it to stay somewhat in good shape, and the efforts of the new students were doing it good. Even so, much of the buildings were left virtually useless. 

Cora ducked into the smaller dorm building and climbed a flight of stone steps up to the second floor. She shared a room with a few other girls, magic-users who she rarely saw outside of bedtime and sometimes dinner. It felt crowded, since more hopeful Knights had come than there was room, and they were  _ still _ coming. Cora didn’t know what the adults had expected, though. It seemed logical to her. People needed purpose, and the Rebellion had just called on the strongest force in Rinthia to rise to their purpose. 

Cora found her room deserted. She quickly changed her socks and shirt, then looked in the mirror and finger-combed through her short, grayish brown hair. Judging that good enough, she strapped on a few more weapons and went down to dinner. 


	4. The Abduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unfriendly people stumble across Vee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short one again

Vee woke the next morning when the sunlight peeked over the horizon to the east. He blinked a few times, yawned, and stretched his wings. Something rustled, and he paused, keeping still and listening. 

People. 

He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it didn’t sound too threatening. He took a moment to change back to sea elf, just in case, shaking his head to clear it of the magic. 

It was then that he realized that the people had stopped talking. He turned around, but didn’t see them. His elf ears didn’t hear quite as well, but he could tell that they were still coming. Why had they stopped talking? He frowned and started walking the other direction. 

“Hello?” someone called toward him. 

Vee stopped again and turned. A small group of men, all bigger than him but perhaps not stronger, stood at the edge of the clearing. They seemed to be armed with hunting gear, mostly: traps, arrows, knives. Vee relaxed just a little. 

“Hello!” he answered. “I’m sorry, am I trespassing?”

The men looked at each other. The one with a red beard, who’d called earlier, spoke again, shaking his head. “Not technically, no. We don’t get many travelers this far from the road.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve been… cutting across.” Vee ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry.”

“No harm, no foul. Are you traveling to the mountains?”

“Um… yeah. The Ironband Knights.”

The red-bearded man nodded. “Of course. The deadline is tonight, you’ll have precious little time to get to Shorfall.”

“I know. But I have to try, right?”

He nodded again. He and the other men took a few casual steps forward. “If you don’t mind, we’re going to start our hunt now.”

“Yeah, of course! Let me get out of your way.” Vee’s neck tingled as he turned, and he paused to look back at them. 

They watched him. “What are you waiting for?” Red Beard said. 

Vee bit his lip. “Nothing, I guess. Excuse me.” He turned completely around and started walking quickly, away from the men. 

He’d taken only a few steps when he heard the telltale stretch and release of a bowstring. Someone pushed him, but he kept his feet, looking back with wide eyes. 

The man with a blue shirt had his bow up, empty of an arrow. Nobody stood behind him, and Vee felt cold. He looked behind him as best he could. 

From his shoulder, spilling red blood onto his clean shirt, stuck a thick arrow. 

“What—” Vee said, his mouth falling open. Then the pain caught up to him, and he stumbled. He felt pushed again, from the other shoulder, and knew he’d been shot a second time. He fell onto the leaves, his knees hitting, then his hands.  _ Ouch, _ his shoulders hurt. 

“But…” 

“Marv, Eric, come on.” Red Beard gestured the others forward, and Vee put a foot beneath him to stand. Blood pounded in his ears, and he decided to throw caution to the wind and initiated the transformation into a dragon. 

A heavy hand dropped onto his head. “None of that, now.”

The transformation halted as soon as it began, reversing. Vee enjoyed the transformation, usually, but having it arrested in the middle was  _ not  _ comfortable. At all. He made a noise and pushed himself up. 

The hand on his head grabbed his hair and pushed him back down, into the ground. Vee shouted and squirmed. “Hey! Who are you!”

He didn’t get an answer, just the men muttering and someone’s knee pressing hard on his back. Vee gasped. He’d been shot twice. He could feel the warm blood running across his back. His forehead pressed into the dirt, and he wiggled to turn his head and breathe. 

“I—I need…”

“Shut up.” The one with a knee to his back pulled the arrows out with disgusting twin squelches. 

Vee didn’t shut up, and he kept struggling. He had a lot of strength, but that knee was bony, and his arms didn’t want to work right after his shoulders were  _ shot _ with  _ arrows.  _ “What do you want, you—”

Someone wrenched his arms back, and Vee cut off his words to cry out. 

“I said, shut up,” Red Beard said. He tied Vee’s wrists together with what felt like rough, strong rope like those used on fishing boats. “Rinthia may not pay for dragon heads anymore, but there are others who’ll pay for live ones, yeah?”

Vee struggled to listen. His shoulders were starting to  _ hurt.  _ Tears spilled from his eyes, to his consternation. He grit his teeth.  __ “You’re gonna… sell me… to who?”

“You’ll see when we get there.” Red Beard took his knee off, but kept hold of the ropes and pulled Vee to his feet. 

Vee tried to jerk away, but he didn’t get very far, and it hurt. “Please, I just…”

“Here, Marv, take him for a second.” Vee felt a new wave of blood as he was jostled, then a blunt pain on the side of his head. He didn’t fall all the way to the ground, but he lost his vision and his consciousness before he even got halfway there. 


	5. Rescue, part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cora, Cyran, and Ashryn mount a rescue

As Cyran dipped his wing toward the edge of the forest on the western side of the Ironbands, Cora hugged Ashryn in front of her harder. She felt him laugh a bit, but she didn’t care. She knew he’d stuck her behind him on Cyran’s saddle with a spell, but she couldn’t help but tense up whenever they changed direction. 

“Relax,” Ashryn tried to tell her. “You’ll be less sore later, and it’s easier to keep momentum.” Cora didn’t know how she could hear him over the rushing wind.

“I’m trying!” She bit back a scream as they descended. Her stomach swooped. She knew her feet weren’t anywhere near the tops of those trees, but she curled her toes anyway.

Finally,  _ finally, _ they landed. Cora tried to breathe at a normal rate as Ashryn slid off and then undid the spell holding her on. He held out his hands, and Cora somehow managed to hop off, too. She stretched.

“Are you going to tell me why we’re here, yet?” Cora asked. 

Ashryn nodded and talked quietly as he threw up some magic circles. Cyran shifted down to his tall human form to stay within the boundaries. “We kept getting reports from new recruits that they’d been accosted by a group of men around here, looking for those coming to the campus. Those new recruits were all human, and they came often enough that I put up some tracking spells. Those men seem to have caught someone, for good.”

“So it’s a rescue mission?” Cora spoke equally quietly, watching as the faint lines of green and blue magic shimmered around them like ribbons frozen on the wind.

“Exactly,” Cyran said. He had a bow on his back, and Cora found it strange for a moment. But of course dragons needed a way to fight without being full-on dragons all the time. She nodded to herself as Cyran kept talking. “We don’t anticipate much of a fight, but it could turn nasty, all the same.”

“I can look intimidating. You should have told me, I would have brought my furs and paints.”

Ashryn smiled and finished his casting. “You’re here more to comfort and talk to whoever they have, if indeed they have someone. Forgive me–without the furs and paints, you’re fairly unassuming, but can still handle yourself in a fight.”

“Yeah. I guess that’s true. So do we know where they are?”

“Sort of. They’ll be in town, according to my spells. We’ll have to pose as travelers.”

“To the coast,” Cyran put in. “That makes sense. And… we’re your parents, Cora, just in case someone asks. We don’t want anybody worrying about why you’re with two men so much older than you.”

She nodded. “No, we don’t. What are we looking for?”

Ashryn grimaced. “I get the feeling that we’ll know it when we see it.”

“But nothing else? No, I don’t know, faces or descriptions?”

Cyran laughed and put his elbow on Ashryn’s shoulder. “Ash gets these gut feelings a lot. Maybe it’s something to do with his divinations. Either way, we should probably listen to him.” Ashryn made a face at the elbow, but couldn’t complain, seeing as Cyran was taking his side.

“All right… I guess I’ll just follow your lead, then.” Cora touched her axe. It was still there, of course. 

In short order, the three of them set out of the forest. They only had to walk a few minutes before they could see and hear the town. Firelight flickered on the houses and the trees, and music drifted down the road. 

“Sounds like a party,” Cyran muttered. “I really hope this isn’t what I think it is.”

Further into town, a bonfire roared in the square, with tables and dancing set up around it. The town was a small one, perhaps a hundred homes. A man with a ginger beard sat at the table, talking loudly. Cora strained to hear what he was saying, but it seemed that it was some kind of dramatic story that made him sound really cool. 

Cyran swore quietly, and Ashryn muttered a few things under his breath. Cora looked over at them, then looked where they were looking.

Shoved off against a house, like they were ashamed of looking at him, was a sea elf, built bigger than the sea elves Cora had seen–which honestly wasn’t saying much. She hadn’t seen many. Still, this one looked strong.

The three of them crept up behind a shed and hid in the shadows there. Ashryn threw up a hand, and the scene beyond blurred as if through warped glass. He spoke in a normal voice. “So, that’s a dragon, off to the side there. Cora, do you see him?”

“It looks like they’re celebrating his capture or something,” Cyran put in, peering through the glassy spell. “What on earth?”

“Are they planning on killing him?” Ashryn said. He looked worried “We need to intervene soon if they are.”

Cora shook her head. “I don’t think so. If they were, they wouldn’t have bandaged him, right? I mean, I didn’t see much, but it looks like he has some kind of wound on his back, and they took care of it. Maybe they’re celebrating something else, and decided to take care of him?”

“I’m not sure…” Ashryn rubbed his chin. “Would they have tied him up and tied him to the cart if they really intended to help him?”

“We need more information. Ash, do you have a spell to listen to what they’re saying?”

“Not through this one.” Ashryn gestured to the glassy barrier. “It keeps us from being noticed, but my listening spells don’t have that kind of range.”

“I’ll sneak up,” Cora said. “Like you said, I’m unremarkable, and even in a town this small, nobody can know  _ everyone. _ I’ll go unnoticed, and I’ll be quick and quiet.”

Ashryn frowned. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Maybe we should stick with our original plan, and come up as travelers.”

“They might keep information back,” Cora said. “I think I need to do it this way.”

“She has a point,” Cyran said. He put a hand on Ashryn’s shoulder. “And hey, they can’t hurt her with us just a few dozen yards away. They can’t hurt her or him, you know you won’t let that happen.”

Ashryn nodded. “Fine. We’ll go around the back there, this spell will drop in thirty seconds or so. Be safe.”

“I will.”


	6. Rescue, part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rescue goes wrong. As they do.

Ashryn nodded. “Fine. We’ll go around the back there, this spell will drop in thirty seconds or so. Be safe.”

“I will.” Cora waited behind the spell while Ashryn and Cyran went down the alley to hide behind one of the houses, next to a stack of firewood that they could probably duck behind if they needed to. Reluctantly, Cora took off her axe and mussed up her hair. She put her traveling cloak and pack behind a planter in the alley where she could grab it all again if she had to run.

The spell dropped, and Cora smiled widely. She hoped it was a nice smile. She skipped out into the square, sticking to the edges and hoping that she looked loose and carefree instead of tense. She stopped at one of the tables with food piled on it to grab a piece of bread and debate over which wine to try, as she listened to the red-bearded man tell his story.

“It was a terrific battle,” he was saying to an enraptured audience of wide-eyed children and their smiling parents. He made gestures as he described the scene. “Marv got that scratch across his face from those terrible talons. Eric waited in the tree with his bow, while I went out to distract it. It was huge! Don’t let its size fool you now, the dragon was big as anything and horrendously shiny. The sun blazed down and flashed in my eyes!”

“Could you see anything?” one of the kids asked.

“Not a darn thing! But I stood my ground, even as it roared and opened its mouth to shoot me with a column of fire!”

The kids and some of the parents gasped.

“And right as it did, I held up my hand, and  _ whoosh! _ A magic shield sprang up and the fire went around me!” The man tried to demonstrate, and Cora saw a brief wisp of something. He had a bit of magic. All right. “Eric shot it, then I shot it, and Marv wrestled it to the ground! I took the Rod of Power–” Everyone looked over at a stick next to him, “–and I made it shrink! We had a great battle of wills, but I won, forcing it to stay a sea elf!”

The kids ate it up and peppered him with questions. Listening carefully and sipping some light wine, Cora learned that some powerful someone had hired the town to catch a dragon, and given them this “Rod of Power” to do it. The town thought that this powerful someone would save them, but from what, she couldn’t tell. 

And then someone said “I wonder when he’ll get here.”

Cora froze, then put down her drink and ran back to the house. “Guys, guys!”

“Is something wrong?” Ashryn straightened from where he’d been leaning against a wall. 

“They’re planning–” She took a breath and organized her thoughts. “They’re planning to sell him to someone who’s going to be here soon. And that someone gave them some magical things, I don’t know exactly, but they said one of them turned him from dragon to that elf. But the person is planning on coming  _ tonight. Right now. _ ”

Cyran and Ashryn exchanged a look. 

“Do you think we can sneak him away?” Cyran asked.

“Maybe. If there’s a guard, I didn’t see them.”

“Come on, then.” 

The three of them took a roundabout route to get to the other side of the square, staying out of sight. The town had tied the sea elf’s hands together behind his back, and his shirt had been cut open in the back to allow access to the wounds in his shoulders. He was still laying the cart that Cora assumed had brought him into town in the first place, and a rope tied his wrists to one of the cart’s beams. The mule was still hitched up and looked very, very bored.

“I still don’t see a guard,” Cora whispered as they peeked over a shed’s roof at him. “He looks unconscious.”

“The easiest thing to do would be to untie the mule and ride off with the cart.” Ashryn squinted down at the square. “But mules aren’t that fast, and people would notice. Besides, I don’t want to steal a cart from a town like this. They probably need it.” 

Cyran smacked his shoulder without looking. “They kidnapped someone, and you’re worried about their cart? You are  _ far _ too nice. If they’re celebrating this much over selling him, they won’t let him go easily. Cult or mercenaries, they need him.”

“We could let this person do the transaction,” Cora suggested. “Then let them get away from the town before snatching him back and finding out who’s trying to do it.”

Ashryn made a face. “I don’t know. They could be more prepared than the town, or some kind of powerful warlord or wizard. I don’t think we should risk it. One in the hand, two in the bush, all that. I can probably untie the mule with magic from here. The question is getting the whole thing out of town without being noticed.”

“Maybe we don’t need to go unnoticed.” Cora looked out. “We can hold them off, hopefully without hurting any of them too badly–maybe Cyran could scare them for long enough for us to get away.”

Cyran did not look like he liked that very much. “I don’t really want to  _ scare _ people…”

“I like her plan, though,” Ashryn said. “I have a bit more magic left. I was trying to save it in case we needed a teleport. I could obscure us from view… but people would notice us if they were looking. And if they’re looking this direction at all, it’s to look at him. What if we untied him?”

“No good, he’s too heavy for us and he’s unconscious.” Cora shook her head. “Maybe you could scare them, instead. Any fancy, scary spells?”

Ashryn rubbed his chin. “I think so. Okay. You two get into position to move the cart out. I’ll untie the mule from here when you’re ready, then make some flashes and bangs or something and scare people away from the cart.”

Cora nodded and slid down the roof. She landed in someone’s flower garden and carefully picked her way over the plants so she wouldn’t crush them.

Cyran landed a kiss on Ashryn’s cheek and followed her. “Okay, cool. You go for the back, I’ll go for the front.”

With a silent nod, they split to sneak up on either side of the house. Cora crouched in the shadows, ready to spring and ready to bring out her axe if she needed to. 

Cyran whistled quietly, and Cora watched as the knot tying the mule to the fence loosed and fell off. The mule didn’t seem to notice until Cyran walked up and caught its bridle. Cora walked quickly over and glanced up at Ashryn, who was watching the town square. She turned her attention back to it, too.

The cart got maybe ten steps–enough to get it out of the yard and onto the street–before someone noticed them.

“Hey! You! What are you doing?”

The voice was loud enough that it got a lot of attention. The woman who’d spoken stood up and started to walk over. 

“Go, go, go,” Cyran said urgently. He glanced back at Ashryn, who’d disappeared from the roof. A wall of flame appeared behind Cora, and she jumped into the cart to avoid it. It seemed to be illusory, though, as no heat or smoke came from it.

More townspeople joined the chase, shouting and starting to run. Someone broke through the fire with a surprised shout, and more followed her. 

Ashryn ran from an alleyway and made it onto the cart as the mule started to pick up speed. “Faster!” 

“I’m trying, this mule is really short!” Cyran sounded frustrated.

Cora unsheathed her axe and braced herself with her free hand on the side of the cart as it started to rumble from the speed. 

“Don’t let them get away!” she heard, before seeing the red-bearded man who was telling the story earlier come barrelling out toward them. She readied her axe. Ashryn glanced back and sent a flash that blinded both the man and Cora, but it was Cora who was actually on the cart. 

It sounded like the mule was going as fast as it could. It would never be fast enough to gain any kind of distance. 

Everyone stopped when they heard a roar and the leathery rustle of wings, right above them. 

A large dragon, shining red in the firelight, landed in front of the cart. Its landing shook the ground and startled the mule so badly, Ashryn had to hop off to grab it and try to calm it down. The mule did not want to be calmed. 

Cora ignored the townsfolk for a moment, staring at the dragon. It was possibly the biggest dragon she’d ever seen, and they had a kind of… malevolent aura emanating from them. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” he said, his voice a rumble that should have felt more like an earthquake. Cora shrank back. 

“Get out of the way!” Cyran shouted, gesturing to the side. 

How dare he speak to this dragon that way! Cora felt a brief rush of anger before blinking it back and taking a breath. She glanced down at the sea elf behind her. His green eyes were open, if only halfway.

“What–” he said, trying to sit up. 

Cora looked around. Everyone was frozen at the sight of the red dragon, or they were trying to get away. She was certainly scared, but she could work through it. She put her axe down and crawled over to him. “It’s okay, we’re rescuing you.” She glanced up. “Kind of. Well, we’re trying.”

“I’m sorry, my lord!” One of the townspeople, wearing something a bit fancier than the rest, perhaps a mayor, came forward and bowed to the red dragon. “They were trying to get away! We stopped them.”

“ _ I _ stopped them,” the red dragon said, looking down at them. Cora tensed. 

Ashryn got back on the cart and whispered with Cyran for a moment. 

The red dragon continued. “And who, pray tell, are you?” 

Cyran stood up from his spot on the cart. “My name is Cyran.” He climbed down and turned into a dragon, very dramatically. Cora’s heart rose for a moment, until she saw that Cyran was half the size of this red dragon.

The red dragon laughed. “I am Defin the Magnificent. And you are weak.” 

“Let us pass.”

“Gladly. But the one in the cart belongs to me. I have paid for him.”

“People aren’t property.”

“Did you hear me?” The red dragon, Defin, leaned down to look Cyran straight on. “I said he is  _ mine. _ ”

Cyran lunged, jaw open and sharp teeth flashing. He bit down on Defin’s snout, earning a roar of pain and surprise. Defin shook his head, and Cyran opened his wings to glide to the ground after getting flung around. Ashryn tried to guide the mule around the fight, but the mule was going crazy mad. It wasn’t about to go anywhere.

“Untie me, I can help!” the sea elf said to Cora.

She frowned down at him. “You’re hurt.”

“Not that badly.” He shifted and winced. “Aw, this was my new shirt.”

“It can be mended.” She reached back and grabbed her axe. A few of the townspeople had gotten over their original shock and were moving to the cart. She swung, fending them off, hoping that none decided to brave her blade enough that they got hurt.

Cyran roared himself, and lightning shot from his mouth, cracking the cobbles beneath Defin’s feet. Defin inhaled. People lunged out of the way, but Cyran braced himself and charged.

A long, thin strand of white-hot flame blew from between Defin’s teeth. Cora felt the heat from this fire, and ducked beneath the lip of the cart to avoid some of it. 

Ashryn hissed from the other side of the cart. His hands performed what seemed like a complicated spell while his eyes stayed glued to Cyran. Cora swung again, and the villagers backed up. In the light of the dragon’s fire, Cora thought some of their eyes gleamed red. Enchantments? Fanatic devotion? She didn’t know, and this wasn’t the time for questions.

The sea elf kicked a townsperson’s hand off the cart. Cora grunted as someone with a knife caught her in the arm, but she responded by slicing a gash across his face. 

“Cyran!” Ashryn shouted desperately. Cora looked over, but she couldn’t see much. The fire dropped, but the afterimage was burned in her eyes. Someone rocked the cart, trying to get in, and she blinked back to herself to kick them off. She heard someone–Cyran?–screaming.

The mule ran away, unhitched from the cart. 

“Come on!” Ashryn screamed again, jumping over the side to get in the untethered cart. 

Cora stayed sitting in the cart. It rocked onto two wheels as Cyran dropped in, shifting back to human midair. She smelled cooking meat.

In nearly the same instant, a blurring green light filled Cora’s vision. Defin the dragon roared, but it faded, leaving Ashryn’s incantation the only sound for what seemed like miles. Her stomach lurched.

Then it was over. The moon was gone, and she smelled evergreens. Wind rushing and birds chirping filled the void of sound, and Cora took a deep breath. They’d apparently teleported, cart and all, to the woods near the campus. She looked back. 


	7. Returned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone needs some healing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for burns and minor injuries

Cyran lay in an odd position, having essentially fallen into the cart at a high speed. Ashryn crawled over to him and moved him onto his back. Cyran made an annoyed noise. His skin did not look good.

Ashryn looked up. “Cora, can you get into the tree over that way? There’s a blue bag inside a knot, I need it.”

“Of course.” Cora scrambled out of the cart and took a few breaths. She’d been trying to hold it against the cooked smell. She found the tree without too much effort and brought the bag over. 

“Thank you.” Ashryn took a glittering stone from the bag, flicked a spark of magic into it, and spoke into it. “Sinaht, by the northern teleportation circle. Be fast. We need to get inside the wards.” He nodded, then pulled out a very small vial of something bright green. 

Cora moved to the front of the cart, upwind. Her stomach turned.

“Who are you?” The sea elf was sitting up now, still tied but trying to hunch over and keep things off his back.

“Oh! Sorry.” Cora moved to untie him. “I guess we’re officially the Ironband Knights. I’m Cora.”

He looked at her. “I missed the deadline?” He sounded upset.

“No. It’s tonight. Were you coming to join?”

He nodded. “Then some guys jumped me.”

“I heard their story, it was pretty dramatic.”

“It wasn’t. They just shot me and tied me up.”

“There you go.” The rope fell off, and the sea elf sighed in relief. “Thanks. I’m Vee.” He held out his hand for her to shake.

She took it. “Nice to meet you. I’m glad we were able to help.”

Vee looked sober. “Me, too.” He put a hand on the side of the cart, wobbled, then hopped out , his shirt flapping from the cut down the back. 

“Ow,” Cyran said unhelpfully from the cart.

“It’s okay,” Ashryn said softly. Somehow, he’d managed to get Cyran’s head in his lap and was trying to cast some kind of ice spell to cool his red skin down. He looked tired. “Sinaht will be here soon. Why didn’t you move out of the way?”

“Of the fire?” Cyran winced. His voice sounded a little croaky.

“Yeah.”

“Breathing fire takes a lot of concentration. If he was trying to roast me, he wouldn’t be looking at you. Or the town.”

“Ha, so you  _ do _ care about them.” Ashryn looked worried. “You’ll be okay. It’ll be okay.”

“I know.” He laughed and coughed. “You’re more concerned than I am. Sinaht’s great.”

“Nice to hear you say that,” said a blonde lady, walking through the trees. She had a few young Knights with her, ones Cora thought she recognized as healer-magic types. “What’s the problem?”

Ashryn looked up with obvious relief. “Sinaht.” He turned his head, expecting to see the sea elf in the cart, but his eyes found him standing. “How are you?”

“I’m all right, he’s way worse,” Vee said, gesturing.

Sinaht frowned and sat at the edge of the cart. “What did you get yourself into this time, Ashryn?”

“We thought a town had kidnapped a hopeful Knight.”

“They did,” Vee put in. 

Ashryn nodded and continued. “They did. Turns out, they wanted to sell him to a giant red dragon. Sinaht, the thing was huge, he has to be very old. Anyway, Cyran got in the way of some of his fire.”

“Cyran,” Sinaht said with a reproachful tone. 

“It distracted him long enough for Ash to cast the teleport spell.”

Sinaht shook her head. “Okay. And you?” She looked at Vee.

“They shot me… um, I think yesterday. I might have a concussion.”

“All right. We’ll do what we can here, then take you all inside. An ancient dragon potentially being after you all is more than enough reason to strengthen the wards. Cath, dear, will you assist me?”

A dark-skinned boy smiled and stepped forward. “Of course, my lady.”

Sinaht began to direct him in healing up a few of Cyran’s burns. Cora watched as the red started to lighten back to Cyran’s regular olive tone. Ashryn kept holding his hand and doing useless things like brushing his hair back.

One of the remaining two students, a short girl in a striped dress, approached Vee hesitantly. “You’re hurt,” she said. Her friend, a pale boy who looked like her, nodded. 

“Um, yeah, I was… shot…” Vee shrugged as if to say “oh well,” but he winced. 

The girl’s face hardened. “Let me see. I can help.”

Vee glanced at Cora, who nodded. He turned to let the girl at it. She frowned and started picking at the bandages.

“Who did these? They forgot the yarrow.”

“Um, I don’t actually know. I was kind of… unconscious, at the time.”

The girl nodded, but rolled her eyes. “These are not great. This might hurt a bit.”

“It’s all right. Just do it.” 

She pulled the bandages out to see the problem. Cora looked over her shoulder, as did the pale boy. “Ouch,” the girl said. “Okay, I can start these healing. Rin, will you deal with the pain?”

The pale boy nodded and set his hands on Vee’s back. Cora noticed Vee wincing. The girl started to weave magic of her own, and the holes started to bleed again. The boy didn’t move, though he got some blood on his fingers, and the girl kept going. 

After a few minutes, the holes were scabbed over. They seemed raw and painful, but well on their way to healing. The girl and the boy pulled back, and the boy used some magic to clean off his hands and Vee’s skin.

“Thanks,” Vee said, straightening and attempting to pull his shirt closed. He frowned and took it off, then put it on backwards so the cut was in the front, like the world’s ugliest vest. He caught Cora trying to hide a snigger. “What?”

“Nothing.” She let her expression go flat again. Then she broke, with a smile. “We’ll just have to find you a shirt that’s not split in half.”

He looked down, then at her again, smiling back. “Yeah, this got kind of ruined, didn’t it?”

“A little.”

The cart shifted as Cyran and Ashryn climbed out, Cyran wincing all the way. Vee thanked the boy and the girl that had helped him again, and they rejoined Cath and Sinaht. Sinaht hovered as Cyran put an arm around Ashryn’s shoulders. He looked better, but he moved like he was sore. 

“Sorry I can’t carry you,” Ashryn said, huffing a breath that was almost a laugh.

Cyran really did laugh. “I can carry you.”

“That’s not what I–” Ashryn cut off as Cyran picked him up bridal-style. “Hey! Put me down! You’re injured!”

“I’m not injured enough that I can't do this.” He started walking.

Ashryn tried to push away, but he did not have that kind of strength. “Cyran! You bully!”

Sinaht sighed and followed. Cora and Vee caught up to her. 

“He’s not… hurting himself, is he?” Cora said. 

“Oh, no. He’s probably sore, but he’s mostly fine.”

“Put me down!” came Ashryn’s shout again.

Sinaht put a hand around her mouth. “Cyran! You’re not totally healed yet!”

Cyran turned back. “Oh, really?”

“Ha! I told you!”

“Make sure you sleep near Jubilee tonight. That’s all.”

Cyran’s grin would have made Cora think she was imagining his previous injury, except for the smell that still clung to the air. “Thanks, doc.”

“I’m not a doctor.” Sinaht rolled her eyes, but smiled. 

“Aw, come on!” Ashryn’s protests were getting very halfhearted.


End file.
